paaaain and RA

emmarose33

Hi everyone.
Thid will sound like a silly question, but I was wondering what type of pain people get with their RA - Especially interested in any pain which isn't actually in their joints! Obviously my joints hurt, but I feel like I am constantly having muscle cramps and what feels like nerve pain every so often, I suspect this could be inflammation putting pressure on nerves.
These general muscle crampy pains are really getting me down atm and am having trouble coping. It's just sooo painful and I have become irritable and even more tired.
Anything I can do to ease it? (other than get in the bath, I can't physically do that without help) Is it normal with RA?
Thanks guys.
Emma x

handsy

[hi i'm john and i have RA. the pain i get is totaly unberable at times tho it does feel like cramp on occation. go to your GP and ask him to get your blood checked for arthritis

breane

Hi Emmarose,I have O/A and R/A and I get pain in my joints,mainly hands,wrists,shoulders,knees and feet however I do get an aching sort of pain too mostly down the left arm where the shoulder pain is.My GP said it's 'referred pain',also neck ache which comes and goes.I had slight backache for a while but that also comes and goes.A lot of the aches I put down to age as I'm 62(a young 62 I might add!).Just started on a weeks course of steroids and already have found the aches and pains easier so hope it continues to work for me. You could ask your GP if he thinks your aches are due to referred pain and whether he could give you something a bit stronger to take. Breane.x

roczko

Hi Emma

As Breane says, I think there's a lot of referred pain with RA so you feel it where you think there's no joint problem.

I too get the cramp spasms in my fingers.

The thing that gets me down is that some sort of pain is always there somewhere in the background even if it's not a specific joint. I wake up each morning hoping this is the day it's gone but it hasn't. Mind you after 30 odd years I'm forever the optimist

On some sort of level, I think I've learnt to live with it and some days are certainly worse than others.

Patrick

emmarose33

Oh Breane. . you'll like the steroids! I felt like I didn't even have arthritis when I first started taking them, it was amazing.
I am weaning off them though and so their effect has gone
I think I will have to push for stronger pain relief as I cannot bear this ache I have some days all over my body. Today actually I am ok. I wish I knew when the good days and bad days were coming in advance!! Lucky today's good day has fallen on the day of the pub quiz we won last week. . . yesterday I was thinking I'd have to miss today.
I am off to googe 'reffered pain'.
Emma xxx

jaspercat

Hi Emma, apart from the joint pain, I get alot of pain that comes from my rib cage, it is hard to breathe in sometimes, also nerve pain in my feet, it is so bad that sometimes I can't walk, I take Tramadol which is useful, but that makes me tired, I can't win at all love Jaspercatxx

breane

Hi again Emmarose,Congrats on winning the pub quiz and good luck for another win today. The pain we get with OA and RA really can ruin our day when we have something special on.I was due to go to a wedding last weekend but couldn't get any shoes on my feet and my pain was quite bad and I knew if I went I wouldn't be able to enjoy it.This weekend we are off to our caravan in Somerset so I'm hoping the steroids will keep the pain away for those three days.Don't see my GP again till next Wed. but I'm hoping he will keep me on the steroids for a while.Just hope I don't put on weight as that's a common side effect. Have a good day,Breane. :P